I invented and developed Castle Siege Chess, which is a chess variant that merges traditional chess with circular chess (Byzantine Chess). About 10 years ago, I scripted it for Zillions of Games. Over the years I have added many variations of my own game to Zillions. The games work very well, but there were 3 rules that players have to perform manually because I could not figure out how to write the script for them and the Zillions staff were not helpful at all.
I have been play testing the board games at chess clubs for 4 years. They have been received very well. However, I often get asked if the games can be played online. When I tell them that they can only play them with Zillions of Games but they have to buy the software for $25, they lose interest. They are too used to playing chess for free online.
Jocly was going to be my solution, but hackers destroyed their site and evidently gutted their servers. Jocly will probably not come back because they evidently did not have their site and server backed up.
I am having a difficult time finding an open-source, free-to-use chess engine that can handle circular boards. I would greatly appreciate your help in finding one.
Thanks, Rich V
What I have tried:
I scripted my games in Zillions of Games, but I could not figure out how to script them for castling, en passant, and a special rule for when the king is in next to a castle wall. My main problem with Zillions is its $25 price tag. I need a free one like Jocly was.